League of Legends is probably the most popular game in the history of video games so far. It's played worldwide by just over 60 million people and Riot, the studio that owns it, is worth roughly half a billion dollars.

Along with games like Counter Strike and DOTA, League of Legends is at the forefront of the push for eSports to be, like, a real thing. Professional players can earn eupwards of 6 figures in the bigger tournaments, and the ranked tiers are more popular now than ever.

I started playing League back in its second season, when it was still a fledging game with players in the thousands, not millions. It was still all about the competitive play, though with far less pressure than nowadays.

Playing League, or really any competitive game, is an ideal situation for those of us who grew up being absolutely shit at sports. Not varisty or even junior varsity, just pretty much doo-doo on the field, or court, or wherever sport things happen.

It's a place where you can feel significantly awesome when you do well. The unathletic types like me, we don't get to feel like we're dominating in a competition much. So when you play Darius and go 7/0 for the first 12 minutes, you get a little lost in your sense of awesomeness.

Whether eSports actually reach a level of competition with some clout or not, these competitive arenas allow people on the beta-male side of the spectrum the chance to feel powerful